GREENSBORO, N.C. – Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.) lifted one skyward to right and as the right fielder staggered, stumbled, and ultimately saw the ball to drop over his head, sending Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) on a mad dash to the plate, the Guilford College baseball team (1-0, 0-0 ODAC) roared out of the dugout in celebration of a 13-12 walk-off winner over Brevard College (1-5, 0-0 USA South) in their season-opener at Edgar H. McBane Field on Monday afternoon.
Another look at the game-winning knock! #GoQuakes pic.twitter.com/HIDD36xoKM
— Guilford College Baseball (@QuakersBaseB) February 17, 2025
Jacob Phillips (Browns Summitt, N.C.) got the opening day nod on the hill for GC and he was solid but did not get much help from his defense. He finished 3.0 innings allowing five runs but just two of them earned on six hits and a walk while striking out two. He was opposed by Jacob Thompson who managed to last just 1.1 innings allowing five runs, all earned, on four hits and two walks. Neither starter factored into the decision in this one and it wound up being Wade, who threw the final 2.0 innings allowing two unearned runs on two hits and two walks while striking out two, and was awarded the win on the mound thanks to his work at the plate as he improved to 1-0. The last of nine pitchers deployed by BC, and 14 between the two teams, Matthew Evans threw the final 1.0-plus inning and took the loss by allowing three runs, two earned, on four hits to drop to 0-2.
In his return to Guilford, Smith was a catalyst for the Quaker offense as the Tornados failed to retire him in his six plate appearances. The junior finished 4-of-4 with two walks, two doubles, three runs scored, and three driven in. He was in the thick of it, but the top of the order as a whole did damage in this one as the one-through-five hitters all finishing with multiple hits and multiple runs scored or RBIs. Skylar Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) went 3-for-6 with three runs scored, Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) finished 3-for-5 with two RBI and a career-high four runs scored, Wade went 2-for 4 with a walk, a double, and three RBIs, and Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) finished 2-of-5 with a double and three RBIs as well.
Cale Oehler led Brevard in hits with a 4-for-6 day at the plate with a double, but only had one RBI. Lucas Granata went 3-of-4 with a double scoring twice and driving in two. Logan Sawyer finished 2-for-6 with a triple, a walk, two runs scored and two driven in.
Phillips enjoyed a 1-2-3 first before the Guilford offense went right to work in the home half. Dark singled and then Thompson threw a pickoff attempt down the rightfield line, allowing him to advance all the way to third. Williams brought him home with a single and GC had the lead just a handful of pitches in. Smith walked, Wade advanced them both with a sacrifice bunt, and Tudor bashed one off the base of the fence in right, scoring both runs and giving GC the quick 3-0 lead.
BC got one back on an unearned tally via a Granata infield single in the second before the Quakers went back to work. Colin McGuire (Wilkesboro, N.C.) drew a walk and Dark singled two batters later prompting a pitching change for the Tornados. A fielder's choice and another free pass loaded the bases for Wade who tapped one through the right side of the infield for a two-run single to make the lead 5-1.
Brevard leveled the score in the third with an Oehler RBI single, an Easton King run-scoring fielder's choice, and two runs scoring on a dropped flyball by Dark. Then in the fourth, now with Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) on the mound, a Frankie Vasquez infield hit plated a run putting the Tornados in front, 6-5. Smith and Sawyer traded lead-changing two-run singles in the next two half innings, advancing the score to 8-7 in favor of BC in the fifth.
Stratton Barwick (Siler City, N.C.) entered and settled things down on the mound for GC. Brevard got two in the seventh with some small ball with Vasquez executing a safety squeeze play and Tyler Kelson knocking in a run with a single, but he had a scoreless frame prior and combined with Jack Ratliff (Greensboro, N.C.) to complete another one in the eighth. That gave the Quaker offense some time to find their footing as they had been held scoreless the prior three innings, squandering a pair of scoring chances along the way.
Guilford's breakthrough came in the eighth inning when Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) reached for the third time, but the first time on a hit, by doubling to right-center. A couple of wild pitches later and he crossed the plate. Williams singled two batters after Blum and went to third on a Smith two-bagger before a Wade walk filled the bases. In a high-leverage spot, Tudor rolled one over to second but it went through the legs of the shortstop Nico Bartolotti allowing the tying run to score and while some confusion ensued with Tudor getting in a rundown resulting in Wade getting thrown out at the plate, the game was even at ten-all.
With the international runner on second in extra-innings, Brevard grabbed the lead again in the top of the tenth. Walks drawn by Hayden Jennings and C.P. Pyle loaded the bases and a passed ball permitted the go-ahead run to score. Granata had a sacrifice fly to make it 12-10, but Wade limited the damage setting the stage for the home half. Dark was GC's runner at second for the tenth and he scored on a Williams single to left. Williams then scored all the way from first when Smith split the right-centerfield gap with a double setting the stage for Wade who sent the Quakers home happy with their first opening day win since 2020 by a final score of 13-12.
Forced to wait 288 days between games by the offseason and a postponement, GC does not have to linger nearly as long before they play again as they will host Southern Virginia University tomorrow, February 18th at 2:00 PM.
#GoQuakes